Rosa M. Rodríguez Porto

Ramón y Cajal Fellow at the Department of Art History (USC)

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rosa.rodriguez.porto@usc.es

Tel. 881 811 000

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My research career has been fully international well before defending my PhD at the University of Santiago de Compostela (2012), as attested by my formative stages in London (2005 and 2008), Paris (2006), Amsterdam (2008-2009) and Helsinki (2010). This geographical itinerary also mirrors the meandering path of my intellectual curiosity, which has led me from the realm of medieval art to that of critical theory, visual studies, cultural history and comparative literature. In this regard, even if I consider myself mostly as a manuscript scholar, I feel that my transdisciplinary methodology and vast range of interests have earned me a singular and authoritative position at the juncture of the art historical and literary fields, beyond the realm of Hispanic studies. Proof of that is my regular invitation to scientific events all over Europe and USA, my participation in Spanish and international research projects, and my variegated papers in top academic journals (Medieval Encounters, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Hispanic Research Journal) and edited volumes published by Brill, Taylor & Francis, Wiley-Blackwell or Brepols. In addition to it, I have been awarded with fellowships and grants by the Warburg Institute, St John’s College – Cambridge, Museo del Prado, and the Accademia de Danimarca in Rome, which have allowed me to delve into the analysis of the Trojan legend in the Middle Ages and, more generally, the medieval reception of classical culture, the intricacies of Iberian kingship and queenship, or the patronage of Castilian aristocrats in Humanist circles in Italy.

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However, it is the bulk of research carried out for my dissertation—devoted to the study of the books illuminated for the kings and queens of Castile after the death of Alfonso  X (1284-1369)—what can be regarded, perhaps, as my major contribution so far. Albeit still unpublished, it has acquired a canonical status and become the source for three forthcoming monographs and issued articles that offer groundbreaking approaches to the Alfonsine historiographical enterprise, to the scrutiny of peculiar dynamics of book production and consumption in multi-confessional Iberia and the hybridized courtly culture created across the Castilian-Grenadine frontier.

After being appointed Assistant Professor of the University of Southern Denmark and the Danish Institute for Advanced Studies (from 2017) I have been able to undertake a project that stems from (and culminates) my previous research, focused on the emergence and consolidation of the illustrated history book after 1250 from a pan-European perspective. Instrumental in the creation of this new conceptual framework have been the dialogue with my colleagues at the Centre for Medieval Literature, my stay at the Fondazione E. Franceschini (Florence), my sustained collaboration with the ERC Advanced project ‘The Values of French’ (King’s College London) and the long-term partnership with the Davids Samling in Copenhagen. All these initiatives evince not only my individual leadership and the potential of my future research, but also my extraordinary capacity for teamwork, confirmed by the crucial responsibilities I have been entrusted with as Senior Researcher of the CML. Further recognition of these achievements is my habilitation of Profesor Contratado Doctor by the ANECA (2017) and my enrolment as evaluator by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (2018).

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With my return to the USC my career comes to a full circle. Under the framework of SINCRISIS I will undertake a new project around the library of the Marquis de Santillana and the artistic and literary culture of 15th century Castilian elites.

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